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With each major Kindle announcement, there is always U.S. exclusive hardware. I can't figure out why Amazon doesn't release its hardware globally.

The Kindle Touch was released only in the U.S. at first. Most major markets did eventually get it the following year, though some markets didn't get the option of the 3G model (even ones, like Canada, that had received 3G models in the past).

The Kindle Fire only ever came out in the U.S.

The updated version of the original Kindle Fire is coming out in only six countries (the U.S., plus all the European countries that have their own Kindle e-book stores).

The Kindle Fire HD is coming to those same 6 countries, and this time they're all getting it at around the same time. That's progress, but 5 of those 6 countries are only getting the 7" model, with the 8.9" Fire remaining U.S. only (with no hint of an international release date).

The Kindle Paperwhite does not appear to be launching anywhere outside the U.S. initially.

Countries like Canada that do not have their own e-book store must use the U.S. store and, upon visiting said store, are typically encouraged by the website to order Kindle Fires and pre-order Kindle Paperwhites, only to be told if they try to order one that the Kindle in question "cannot be shipped to the selected address."

I understand that the Kindle Fire's services are a key part of the devices in Amazon's mind, but that didn't stop Apple from releasing the iPod in Canada without launching iTunes at the same time. iTunes came later in Canada, yet the iPod was still a huge success there. It's not like the Kindle Fire has no appeal without Amazon Prime, etc.; it's appeal is reduced, but not so low that no one would buy it. And the Paperwhite being U.S.-only isn't a services issue, it's as capable of utilising Amazon's services as the Kindles Amazon does consent to sell internationally.

Can the world's biggest e-commerce company be consistently planning so poorly that they're severely supply constrained on every device they launch? It seems improbable.

Amazon is putting a lot of effort to try to get the Kindle into the Japanese market, while not launching its existing devices in all the markets its currently serving. Am I missing something, or does this all make terribly little sense? The U.S. is undoubtedly a big market, but Amazon is a growth-hungry company and they will need international sales to stay on the trajectory they want to be on, yet (outside of failed efforts to break into the Japanese market) they seem to put very little emphasis on it. It absolutely boggles my mind that Amazon would allow Kobo to have international markets all to themselves when it comes to front-lit e-ink readers.